The Krakken
The Krakken is the third episode of Ben 10. Plot The episode begins with Ben taking a swim in a lake at night. He does a cannonball and he does cheers for his own achievement. Gwen comes by and Ben invites her to join him, but she declines the offer. She doesn’t want to come in contact with the strange creatures that might be in the water, calling Ben as a good example. As she heads back to the RV, Ben seems to begin drowning. She hears him and Ben has been fully-submerged in the water before seeing him after she came to take a look at what’s happening. In his place, a giant slimy monster emerges, scaring Gwen. Afterwards, she does realize on closer inspection that it was Four Arms covered with plants and slime to create the perfect monster illusion. Gwen storms off to Grandpa Max as Four Arms has a laugh at her expense. Once she is gone, a real monster appears and attacks Four Arms. A short fight between them results in the monster as the victor. Unable to find it again, Four Arms heads back to the RV to warn Gwen and Grandpa Max. They don’t believe his story, since he has just pulled a similar prank. The next morning, the three head out to the pier for a fishing trip. Ben talks about the event with the giant monster to Max, but he chalks it up to some kind of fish that looked larger than it was. Upon reaching their boat, Ben spots a bucket of worms and holds a handful to Gwen, telling her that it is breakfast. Max tells her that it is bait, but she is disgusted and decides to stay on the jetty, rather than join them. She leaves and Max gets the captain’s attention, saying that they are ready. His name is Shaw. Max then explains that they’ve chartered the boat, but Shaw’s impatience grew and told them to get on board. On the water, Max tries to make small talk with Shaw. He has limited success, though enough to provoke him to notice that Ben is leaning over the edge, guessing that he’s probably seasick. This is not the case, however, for he is merely keeping a close eye for the giant creature he saw. A nearby log with a tub hanging on it tricks his vision, after mistakenly interpreting it as the creature. Max tells Ben that the trip is nothing more than a fishing trip, but Shaw backs up Ben’s claim. He says that the creature he saw was called the Krakken. Shaw says that he has been tracking the beast for some time now, which explains his given reputation for being crazy, which doesn’t surprise Max. Shaw mentions a place where he’d seen it and offers to take them. Max can’t help but accept his offer, seeing Ben’s delight. On the way, Shaw shows off his equipment on board made for tracking the Krakken. Max tries to convince Ben that Shaw’s reputation is deserved, but he doesn’t agree with him. They are then nearing their destination, though they find the area cordoned off. Before Shaw continued on, another boat pulls up beside his. On it, a man named Jonah Melville informs them that the organization Friends of Fish, which he claims he founded, is conducting an environmental study in that section of the lake and needs him to turn around. Shaw doesn’t want to, but Max makes him since that boat is currently chartered to him. When Ben mentions the Krakken, Jonah explains it as an old nonsense story. Ben is still not convinced. As they are escorted back by Jonah, Shaw’s sonar picks up an object heading towards their boat. At first glance, it appears to be a large shark. Shaw and Ben think otherwise, believing it to be the Krakken. Sure enough, it gets closer and its silhouette shows that it is far too large to be a shark. It passes under their boat and the group realizes that its target is the docks. At the docks, Gwen is happy to be by herself. Her enjoyment is then interrupted after Shaw uses the air-horn on his ship to warn those at the docks. Gwen figures that it is another one of Ben’s jokes, but after the appearance of the Krakken, she immediately changed her mind. The Krakken completely destroys the dock, sending Gwen and many civilians into the water. Back on the boat, Shaw gloats over his claim about being right about the Krakken. Max sends him back to steer the ship and tells Ben to rescue the people in the water. Ben quickly gets ready and attempts to transform into Ripjaws. However, he transforms into XLR8 instead, much to his annoyance. He has no other choice but to use what he has. XLR8 begins to swim to Gwen and realizes that he is fast enough to run on water. His speed allows him to save Gwen and everyone else. On Jonah’s boat, he orders his crew to get moving. The Krakken, which is holding another boat, notices his boat and chases after them. It almost sank their boat, but XLR8 arrives just in time to scare it away. XLR8 hops onto their boat, and the Krakken returns to grab a crate marked CANNERY, sitting right on the boat’s deck. Jonah is concerned about the crate, trying to drag it away from the Krakken, and XLR8 attacks the creature. It leaves, and he questions Jonah for the crate’s importance. Jonah, however, is evasive about the contents of the crates, saying that it is their lunch. XLR8 is extremely confused for Jonah being that desperate to save lunch, but immediately ignores it when the Krakken comes back and grabs the crate. The Omnitrix then signals timing out, immediately leaving Jonah upset. XLR8 runs as fast as he can back to his boat, but he reverts back into Ben before making it on board. Max notices Ben and tells Shaw that he is overboard, interrupting his process of aiming a harpoon directly at the Krakken. He gives up, and promises to get it next time. Later that night, everyone is packing up and leaving. Ben tells Gwen and Max that he and Shaw were right about their sightings. Max still thinks that Shaw is crazy, and wants Ben to stay away from him. Ben wants to help Shaw catch the Krakken, but Max insists that he should leave it be. Shaw then passes by, insulted by the Friends of Fish for shutting down the whole lake. He insists that it won’t stop him from catching the Krakken. Later, Gwen and Max get ready for bed. They wonder what is taking Ben so long in the bathroom. Max opens the door to check on him, only to discover that he is not there. Instead, he is on Shaw’s boat, which Shaw quickly learns, though he doesn’t seem bothered about it. Upon reaching the spot, Shaw prepares himself to dive in and look for the Krakken, calling himself “live bait”. Ben insists that he should go with him, but Shaw calls his harpoon gun the only companion he needs. Shaw jumps overboard, and he finds a giant egg in a nest. He studies it, and noticed something behind him. He fires a harpoon, only for the figure to dodge. As it got closer, it was just Ben. Shaw shows Ben the egg and then swims back up. Back at his boat, Shaw finds an armed speedboat parked right next to his. He boards back onto his boat, and three men in diving gear pull him up to interrogate him. Shaw admits that he saw nothing, so the man knocks him out. Upon removing his mask, it turns out to be Jonah. He has his crew drag Shaw on his boat to question him further at the cannery. Ben wants to help, but finds that his Omnitrix is still on Recharge Mode. Jonah activates a tracking device and tosses it into the water where the nest is. He then throws a bomb onto Shaw’s boat, making Ben’s situation worse. Luckily, after they drive off, the Omnitrix was in Active Mode. Jonah and his men head for the cannery, and they notice something coming. One of them thinks it is a bird. The other thinks it’s a plane. Jonah, however, figures out that it’s a giant bug, Stinkfly. Upon seeing him, they attempt to shoot him down, but Stinkfly is able to disable their weapons with slime. Jonah then begins to release the depth charges attached to the back of his boat. None of them hit Stinkfly, but one explodes and causes a tree to fall, sending Stinkfly into the water, rendering his wings useless. Lucky for Stinkfly, a nearby log allows him to get out of the water. As they search for him, Stinkfly hides until his wings can dry. The Krakken shows up, forcing Jonah to dump Shaw overboard to escape. Stinkfly then rescued Shaw from drowning. Stinkfly heads for dry land, while carrying Shaw. To make things worse, the Omnitrix begins to time out and Stinkfly reverts back into Ben. He gets close enough, before reverting to reach the awning of the RV. In the RV, Ben explains the reasoning behind the Krakken attacks, Jonah has been stealing her eggs, and she was only protecting them. Gwen then finds information on Jonah, and they find out that he hunts rare animals and sells them to the highest bidder. Ben wants to get the eggs back, but Shaw is only focused on capturing the Krakken. He says that he has a spare boat at the docks. They reach the docks, while Gwen calls the police. Shaw unties the boat, and the team leaves him behind. Shaw becomes annoyed, but quickly spots a simple rowboat to replace it. At the cannery, Jonah has already retrieved the egg using a miniature sub. His henchman is loading it into a large container with a second egg. The trio arrives as he gloats over how much money they're going to make with the eggs. Ben sends Gwen and Max up to find the eggs, while he stays behind to deal with the poachers. Ben transforms into Ripjaws. The Krakken shows up to save her eggs. The poachers attempt to shoot it off, only to find that it's too durable to hurt. They flee, and one is knocked into the water. Jonah heads to the minisub to fight the Krakken, only to have similar luck. Ripjaws hops out of the water to assist the Krakken. Inside the cannery, Gwen and Max sneak around in an attempt to catch one of the henchmen off-guard. He’s currently picking up a rather large weapon off of a rack. As they sneak in, Max makes use of hand signs, probably associated with some sort of government training. Meanwhile, the poacher who was in the water climbs back up and finds them. Despite being at gunpoint, Max threatens the poacher, asking him if he'd like to do things the easy way, or the hard way. The Krakken's tail pokes through the building at the right moment to provide a distraction, allowing Gwen and Max to ride on hooks attached to the ceiling. As they pass by the poacher, the Krakken's tail sends him back into the water. The second poacher is knocked out through a team effort by Gwen and Max, with Max kicking the weapon from his hands, and Gwen landing on his face. Ripjaws and Jonah continue to fight over the eggs, dodging attacks from the Krakken as they do. Jonah's minisub proves to be formidable, possessing several devices meant specifically to be used on aquatic creatures. Ripjaws finally catches a break when they end up at Shaw's sunken boat. By using the anchor, Ripjaws is able to fight Jonah off, and eventually removes one of the limbs of his minisub. He then takes the eggs back to the Krakken's nest, appeasing it. Jonah attempts to steal the eggs again and the Krakken bites his minisub in half. Jonah then attempts to stab the Krakken, only to have his knife break. The Krakken almost eats him, but Ripjaws stops her and she goes back to her eggs. Ripjaws knocks Jonah out and leaves him hanging from some wreckage for the police to find him. Max is glad to see Jonah arrested. At the same time, Shaw shows up in his rowboat, claiming to have caught something. On closer inspection, it is Ripjaws. As Shaw gloats about what he claims as one of the Krakken’s offspring, Ripsaws reverts back into Ben. Max points this out, confusing Shaw. The episode ends with a scene showing the Krakken reunited with its eggs. Noteworthy Events Major Events Omnitrix Alien Debuts *Ripjaws Characters *Ben Tennyson *Gwen Tennyson *Max Tennyson *Krakken (first appearance) *Captain Shaw (first appearance) Villains *Jonah Melville (first appearance) *Duane (first appearance) *Jack (first appearance) Aliens Used *Four Arms *XLR8 (selected alien was Ripjaws) *Stinkfly *Ripjaws (first appearance) Quotes Naming and Translations Cast Allusions *This episode's title and Ben himself refer to a poem called The Kraken by Alfred Tennyson. *When Stinkfly appears, the Friends of Fish mention a famous line "Is it a bird, maybe a plane?" This is a reference to the Superman musical from the 1960s. *Captain Shaw is a reference to Quint from the 1975 movie "JAWS" played by Robert Shaw. *The "monster" Ben uses to scare Gwen is a reference to Man Thing. Trivia * This is the first episode in the series in which Ben transforms into the wrong alien by accident. Category:Episodes Category:Ben 10 Episodes Category:Ben 10 Season One Episodes Category:Episodes Directed by Scooter Tidwell